Ongoing wet weather is maintaining a heightened danger of loose wet avalanches at all elevations. Storm slabs are a potential concern in the alpine.
Confidence
Low - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Friday: 5-10 mm of rain with potential for accumulations of about 10 cm of new snow at alpine elevations. Strong southwest winds. Freezing levels of around 1400m with alpine temperatures of 0 to -1. Saturday: 15-20 mm of rain. Moderate south winds. Freezing levels rising to about 1800 metres with alpine temperatures around 0 to +1.Sunday: 40-50mm of rain. Strong to extreme south winds. Freezing levels rising to 2500 metres with alpine temperatures around +5
Avalanche Summary
No recent avalanches have been reported. That said, recent rainfall is suspected to have caused a natural loose wet avalanche cycle. Although natural avalanche activity and human triggering potential has decreased in sync with falling temperatures, ongoing rain will maintain lingering loose wet avalanche potential into the near future, particularly in steep, unsupported terrain. Storm slab development is an additional concern at high alpine elevations where snow may accumulate.
Snowpack Summary
A strong start to the season brought good snow coverage to treeline and alpine elevations of the South Coast mountains. While reports of snowpack composition have been limited, there is confidence that recent heavy rainfall has saturated the upper snowpack throughout the region.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.